Fiske Monthly News
March 2018
Welcome!
News from The Principal, Thomas Martellone
School Wide PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support)
Many parents may have heard their child talk about getting WHOO Cards, sitting in the “Owl’s Nest”, having lunch with the Principal/Assistant Principal, or taking part in activities such as a dance party when the whole school earned at least 500 WHOO Cards. All of those things are part of our School Wide PBIS System.
PBIS Stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. It is a program designed to teach respect, responsibility and best effort at school. At Fiske, part of our job is to encourage students to continuously make good behavior choices through this program and to ensure that they clearly understand our school wide expectations.
PBIS provides teachers and other school staff with information to help prevent behavior problems and make school a safe learning environment. Research shows that the use of PBIS in school as resulted in increased time for instruction. It also increases positive behaviors school wide and decreases disruptive behaviors.
How Does It Work?
A PBIS school teaches the expectations to all students and provides frequent opportunities to practice. A PBIS school provides a consistent, predictable and fair use of consequences for all students. At Fiske, we teach students what Respect, Responsibility and Best Effort look like in all school settings through our school’s PBIS Matrix.
When we see students meeting those expectations, we give them WHOO Cards as a form of positive recognition, which also give them a chance to participate in school wide incentives mentioned at the beginning of this news article.
What Can Parents Do?
Read and discuss the Behavior Expectations Matrix found in the headlines section of our school website.
Ask your child if they have earned any WHOO cards and ask them why they have earned them.
Review the behavior expectations matrix with your child if he or she experiences behavior problems at school.
Work on a plan to help students with strategies for appropriate behaviors.
Support teacher and administrative behavioral consequence decisions.
Discuss problems privately with staff.
Fiske Frost Thank You
A very big thank you to the PTO for sponsoring a fun evening at the Fiske Frost that raises money to support enrichment and other opportunities for Fiske students and staff. They evening was filled with laughter, dancing and great opportunities to support our students. For that, the staff and I are extremely grateful!
News from the Assistant Principal, Brian Baker
Finding Balance for Busy Families
Spring will be making its way to Lexington very soon. March 20th to be exact! Hopefully, warmer weather will also be making its way here, as well. With the start of spring and warmer weather families are more apt to spend extra time outside enjoying the longer days. Also with the spring weather comes spring activities. Kids have lots of options for activities these days, but an overscheduled child can go from busy to burned-out in no time. It is important to find that balance between school and extracurricular activities. Below is an article I came across from SchoolFamily.com that I found to be interesting.
By: Emily Graham
It starts with the best of intentions. Your daughter excels at music, so you enroll her in piano lessons. The next year, she picks up the violin and joins the soccer team. She asks to join her friends in scouts, and then wins a spot on the academic quiz team.
Family dinners become a thing of the past as you shuttle her from one activity to the next. Homework takes up the rest of the evening, leaving her little time to play or unwind. Mornings are frantic as she rushes to find homework, athletic gear, and sheet music before the school bus arrives.
You tell yourself it’s worth it to help her get into a good college. But no matter how much energy she has now, an over-scheduled kid runs the risk of burnout by the time she’s ready for college.
“Sometimes we equate the number of activities with good parenting,” says Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a University of New Hampshire psychologist who has authored books on parenting and home organization. “Colleges are looking for kids that are well-rounded, not manically over-scheduled.”
The hectic pace is hard on parents, too. The pressure parents feel to maximize every opportunity for their children may leave moms and dads feeling inadequate and cause them to derive less satisfaction from parenting, the American Academy of Pediatrics has found.
By contrast, numerous studies have shown that families who eat dinner together report stronger relationships and better grades. According to a 2006 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, kids and teens that eat dinner with their families at least five times a week have a much lower risk of substance abuse.
Weighing the Options
If your family is over-scheduled, you can ease some of the pressure by finding ways to simplify your daily routine, whether it’s cutting back on extracurricular activities or getting more organized at home.
First, think about your attitude toward your child’s involvement in activities. Do you feel pressured by your peers to meet a certain level of participation? Do you push your children because you don’t want them to miss out on opportunities you didn’t have, even if they aren’t interested? The AAP urges parents to evaluate which activities are appropriate based on a child’s needs, skills, and temperament and to preserve time for children to play and hang out with family members.
Parents should listen carefully to what their children want to do and let them follow their passions rather than of imposing other expectations, says Mimi Doe, author of Busy but Balanced: Practical and Inspirational Ways To Create a Calmer, Closer Family. “For some kids, this pressure to get involved is coming from their parents rather than their desire to try things out,” she says. “They just said they like the piano, and you’re picturing them at Carnegie Hall.”
Instead of thinking about getting an advantage for your children in the college admissions process, she advises parents to focus on creating a manageable family schedule. When considering each activity, think about the time, cost, and transportation involved as well as how it will affect you and your kids. Consider setting limits on the number of activities each child can participate in before the school year starts. Many families limit each child to three activities—one artistic, one athletic, and one social.
Doe encourages families to create more balanced lives based on their own values. If parents feel it’s important to eat dinner together a few nights a week, arrange the schedule to try to make it happen. It’s important for parents to set predictable times that they’re available to listen to their children, she adds, whether it’s taking a walk together after dinner or talking for a few minutes before the kids go to bed.
“It’s really critical that before a new extracurricular season, families consciously craft the best schedule for them,” Doe says. “You want to be proactive, not reactive to what comes home in the backpack.”
“Give yourself permission to step off the fast track,” Doe says, “trusting you’re giving [your children] the best gift: being present in their lives without being exhausted.”
My hope for all of the Fiske families this spring, as your children begin to swing the baseball bats, kick the soccer balls, cradling the ball in lacrosse stick, tickle the ivory on the piano, backflip on the balance beam, practice a second language, etc, etc, etc. is that you find the time to sit down to dinner as a family. I hope you can find the time to read a book together, as well as help create other special memories off of the playing fields, gymnasiums and other after school activity venues.
Kindergarten News, from Mrs. Button, Mrs. Maestri and Mrs. Shanahan
A big shout out to the PTO for sponsoring a local artist Liz Buchanan from Arlington. Liz joined us in early March; she played her guitar and offered both a music and literacy
program. Liz sent us a CD so the children had an opportunity to hear some of her songs before her visit. Some of the songs the children enjoyed were Nihao Jambo Hola (a song about saying hello in many languages), The Hand-Clapping Rap (for syllables), The Three Piggy Opera (for retelling) and the Vowel Jamboree. The name of her CD is called Singing All the Way Home. Be sure to ask your child about this entertaining performance.
There’s a buzz in the Kindergarten Pod, the chick eggs arrived on Monday, March 19 th . Stay tuned to the “chick happenings” in Rooms 101, 103 and 104!
Grade One News, from Mrs. Shew, Mrs. Torpey, and Mrs. Wallace
Writing
The first grade students will continue working on their realistic fiction stories. In this unit, children are asked to imagine a character, setting and problem for their story. They will be taking these characters on real life adventures. They will continue to make their stories come to life by using dialogue, sparkly words and punctuation. Some of these stories may turn into series books in which the main character faces many different problems across different settings.
Reading
In reading students are currently working on “Being the Boss of their Reading”. They are working hard at stopping at the sign of trouble and using strategies to solve their tricky words. Some of these strategies may be, checking the picture, doing a slow check, trying it two ways, and crashing the parts together. They are also continuing to use the language, “Does it looks right?, Does it sound right, Does it make sense?” to monitor their reading.
Retelling after reading fiction or non-fiction texts is also extremely important in first grade and the children will be looking at comparing characters, looking at settings, discussing the problem in various stories and talking about the solution to the problems as we read together.
Math
During math workshop students hopped aboard a double decker bus where they were in charge of keeping track of how many passengers were on their bus. Passengers were able to sit on both the top and bottom rows of their bus. As you can imagine, this became tricky at times. Some of the big ideas from this unit are: understanding that addition and subtraction are used to solve many different kinds of problems, being able to demonstrate automaticity with addition and subtraction facts within 10.
Social Studies
The first graders will focus on the topics below this term:
*Identify the current President of the United States and describe what presidents do.
*Identify and explain the meaning of American national symbols (American Flag, bald eagle, White House, Statue of Liberty).
*Discuss the general meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.
*Locate Washington, D.C. and Boston on a map and explains their significance.
Stay tuned for details about our American Symbols on Parade Performance, our performance is scheduled for Friday, May 25th at 9AM!
Grade Two News from Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Dinsmore, Mrs. Gobiel, and Mrs. Johnson
Second grade is busy!
Many of our units of studies are continuing from February. In reading we are focused on the latter part of our unit, Amping Up Reading Power, which includes a focus on studying characters. The unit began with a focus on helping students further develop their reading fluency by working to read with more expression and at an appropriate pace. Attention was given to the importance of rereading text to aid in fluency. As we move along in the unit the focus turns to further developing comprehension strategies that support readers as they keep track of the multiple characters, events, and places that are part of longer text. Students will be working to identify how characters grow and change throughout a story, and how to use evidence from the text to support their thinking. Please continue to have your child read for twenty minutes each evening.
Our writing unit is continuing its focus on persuasive writing. Students are learning how to state an opinion, and provide reasons and examples to support their opinion. While this initially focuses primarily on characters and books, it gradually will move to second graders writing opinion pieces about more general topics.
We have been investigating the states of matter in science. This investigation looks at what are the properties that we can observe and use to describe solids and liquids, how matter changes, and when do we see change around us? Students will develop the procedures and observations notes recorded during their science experiments into more developed writing pieces. Students work to record their observations and data with pictures, numbers, or written statements, and discuss their observations with other. In addition, students will learn how to identify objects and materials as solids, liquids, or gases.
We are wrapping up Unit 5 in math which has focused on using strategies for solving addition and subtraction number stories. Unit 6 is a smaller unit that focuses on geometry. Students will learn to identify, name, and draw shapes based on specific attributes. They will also develop and use geometric vocabulary to describe shapes.
Later this month we will begin our unit on India in social studies. Some of our focus will be on the location of India and some of its major geographic features, schooling, language, symbols, and climate. Students will reflect on essential questions such as how does where you live affect how you live? and how are cultures alike and different from each other? This unit will carry through into part of April.
It might be a good idea to pack an extra pair of socks or pants in your child’s backpack. As the weather warms up, the ground is apt to be a bit damp and muddy. The likelihood of students getting their feet wet, or muddying their pants at recess increases in the spring. Packing extra clothes will ensure your child is prepared for this situation.
Our field trip to the Museum of Science will be on March 20th. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to that event. Conferences will be held March 28th and 29th and April 4th and 5th. Classroom teachers will be contacting you to share their schedules and information on how to schedule a conference.
Have a wonderful March!
Grade Three News from Mrs. Aufiero, Mr. Halfond, Mrs. Owen and Ms. Williams
Math
We have just finished our unit on fractions and have entered the unit of linear measures, perimeter, and area. In this unit children will compute the perimeter of polygons. They will learn to find the area of a shape by tiling, multiplying, or decomposing the shape into rectangles. They will also measure lengths accurately to the nearest half inch. In this rich unit they will also collect and represent data on a line plot. We sure will be busy in math.
Writing
In writing we move from the genre of opinion writing where the children have learned to be quite persuasive to informational writing. Whether your child is an expert in chess, dinosaurs, or even minecraft, they will learn the structure and style of writing for information.
Reading
During reader’s workshop the emphasis has been on all types of non-fiction. We will begin looking at fiction, and primarily the role of characters within a story. Children will learn how to analyze a characters inside and outside traits, and see how they change throughout a story.
Science
We are finishing up our unit on the water cycle and weather and will be starting mystery powders. In this hands on unit the students will become true chemists as they don their goggles and mix chemicals and powders. They will analyze their experiments and determine the powders and liquids by the reactions that occur.
Grade Four News from Ms. Hoffman, Mrs. Jaffe, Ms. Michael, and Mr. Wilde
Our fourth grade team is delighted to announce that Mrs. Jaffe recently welcomed her beautiful baby daughter, Lily Reese Jaffe, into the world on February 13th. We’re happy to report that Mrs. Jaffe is doing very well and enjoying this special time with her daughter. We are fortunate to have a familiar Fiske face joining our team during Mrs. Jaffe’s leave. Many fourth graders, as well as staff members, were excited to see their former first grade teacher, Mrs. Crogan, back at Fiske in the fourth grade pod!
We continue our interactive read aloud of Karen Hesse's Letters from Rifka, and our fourth graders are in the midst of their historical fiction/immigration book clubs, and they are meeting regularly to discuss their books and working to make their group discussions more productive and effective. The book selections for our small group book clubs all have a connection to our social studies unit on immigration, providing the opportunity to revisit previous learning of the immigration experience in a historical context. A major goal of our book clubs is for our readers to work together to deepen their understanding of this genre and grow more complex ideas about the text.
Our writers are starting to draft literary essays based on the theories and big ideas they are growing within their historical fiction book clubs. Students will revisit the essay structure while supporting their theories with specific text-based evidence.
Following an intense unit on fractions, our current focus is on decimals and their uses. This can be a challenging concept for students, so we will be focusing on money as well as Base Ten blocks and other manipulatives to help reinforce this concept. During this unit, students will review and extend basic concepts and notation. They will also review how to add and subtract decimals and review relationships among metric units of length and capacity.
In Social Studies, we are continuing our study of North America. We’ve recently begun our “virtual tour” of the regions of the USA. Via educational videos and other online resources, students will learn about the various regions of the USA, and compare and contrast them with a focus on natural resources, climate, history, physical landforms, and landmarks. Throughout this unit, a connection will be made to our earlier study of immigration as we discuss the cultural influences of each region.
Our fourth grade scientists have just finished a new and exciting unit exploring robotics and engineering! Our next big unit will be Animal Adaptations. This unit is always fascinating, and the featured creature is the mighty crayfish. Ask your fourth grader if these cool crustaceans have arrived in the classrooms yet!
Grade Five News from Mrs. Belletti, Mrs. Gavrin, Mrs. McMahon and Ms. Springfield
Written by Ramaiza S. and Shelley T.
February was such a productive month this year, even with the week of break. These are all of the amazing things we did this past month!
In reading, we presented our Book Ads. Book Ads is an oral presentation, that focus on our speaking and writing skills. This activity is used to prepare fifth graders for those many presentations yet to come in life. All the students finished them, and are proud of their hard work!
Let’s not forget about math! In Math, we learned about fractions, and how we can use them to solve math problems. We also used this program called Fraction Nation. It helps us practice fractions as well. In addition to that (Pun intended), we solved lot of tricky word problems, and made visuals and posters to help us understand them.
In Writing, we are finishing our Fantasy unit. We all wrote incredible and creative stories about dragons and magic! Also, we are starting our nonfiction and poetry topics for our next writing assignment.
Moreover, science has been really fun! We learned about Water Transformation, and made mini-lakes to observe as the days went on. We also studied the water cycle, and how it works.
Moving on, as a fifth grader, we should know what’s happening in our community, and even around the world! In Student Council, we come up with amazing ideas to help our community, and the world! Student Council is a great opportunity to let our voices be heard, and represent Fiske School! Finally, I hope you enjoyed this month as much as I did, and that next month would be just as good, if not, more!
Math written by Owen (Mrs. Belletti’s Class)
Our class is quite good at math and right now we are learning about adding, and subtracting fractions. Our teacher is trying to push our brains by giving us situations with fractions where we have to add and subtract to get the right answer. We are also practicing number strings. It also has to do with our fractions unit. We’ve been adding and subtracting fractions for a while now and I think our class is doing a lot better with fractions.
Heads up, we just started a new unit: the Mr. Martellone project. Kids are expected to find out or discover which out of two ideas for property planning has more blacktop space.
Specialist News
Counseling News from Mrs. Pirone
It’s that time of year again with spring fever is in the air! Changing the clocks ahead one hour can be difficult for many kids sleep and wake routines. Below is an article to help ease this transition.
5 Ways to Prep Your Kids for Daylight Saving Time https://www.parents.com/kids/sleep/tips/daylight-saving-time/
By Dina Roth Port
Daylight saving time is no fun for anyone. That groggy, "I really don't want to get out of bed" feeling lingers for days after you set your clocks forward a hour, and can make any already sleep-deprived parent feel exhausted. But the loss of sleep can be even tougher on your kids. "Young children need more sleep and don't tolerate sleep deprivation as well as adults," explains Daniel Lewin, Ph.D., associate director of sleep medicine at Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C. "The loss of just one hour can really affect a child's attention span, appetite, and overall mood."
The good news: You can take steps to help mitigate the effects of daylight saving time. These four tips will help you do just that:
Take Baby Steps
Don't just set the clock forward an hour one night and expect your child to get right back in sync; It takes some time to adapt to that loss of sleep. To help adjust, Dr. Lewin suggests gradually shifting your kid's bedtime later in preparation for daylight saving time. So if your child goes to bed at 8 p.m., about four days before the time change, put him to bed at 7:45 p.m., then 7:30 p.m., and so on until he's going to bed as close to 7 p.m. as possible. If possible, wake him up a little earlier, as well. "Doing this step-by-step is not as much a shock to the system as it is when you abruptly expect your child to fall asleep an hour earlier after the time change," Dr. Lewin says. "If it's too difficult to get your child to bed earlier, which is often the case in older kids, then just focus on advancing the wake up time a bit instead."
When daylight saving time ends in the fall, this gradual approach can still help -- follow the same guidelines -- just push the wake up time and bedtime a little later rather than earlier.
Control the Lights
Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate your body's internal circadian clock. It increases in the evening as it becomes dark, which helps induce sleep, and shuts down when it's light out, which can then increase wakefulness and alertness.
But daylight saving time throws that natural cycle out of whack a bit, and that can be particularly difficult for kids. (Are yours eager to go to sleep when it's light outside or to wake up when it's dark out? We didn't think so!)
To help, Dr. Lewin recommends dimming the lights in your child's bedroom and turning off all electronics about 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. (According to The National Sleep Foundation, such devices can reduce sleep time, sleep quality, and daytime alertness because of the light exposure as well as the fact that they engage the brain right before bedtime.) In the morning, get your child in the light as much as possible. Natural sunlight is best, so if weather permits, have breakfast outside or have your child help walk the dog. If that's not an option, turn on the lights in the house so it's nice and bright.
When daylight saving time ends, the key is making sure your child doesn't go to bed too early or wake up earlier than she already does (what parent wants that?) So when you "fall back," make sure your child has some light exposure in the early evening and ensure that her room isn't too bright in the morning. (Two words: Blackout shades!)
Stick with a Routine
When daylight saving time begins or ends, it's especially important to stick with a bedtime routine, as your child is now dealing with a change in schedule that might throw him off. "For young children, it's absolutely critical that they have a routine during bedtime," says Dr. Lewin. "That's what helps create a powerful signal for sleep." One option: giving your child one a warm bath, reading him a book, and snuggling together before lights out.
Get Enough Sleep NOW
Also, in the days before you change your clocks, make sure your child is getting plenty of shut-eye. "Sleep begets sleep," explains Dr. Lewin. "So going into daylight saving time well-rested will greatly help your child because he won't be cranky and overtired, which can make falling asleep even harder."
Be Sympathetic
In the days following daylight saving time, try to be more forgiving if your child is throwing extra temper tantrums and seems to be particularly frustrated or difficult in any way. "The time change can cause such short-term changes in your child's mood, but your understanding and support will help him or her adjust a little better," Dr. Lewin says.
With all the focus on your kid's sleep, don't forget to take care of yourself, too! Many adults feel sluggish and cranky themselves after the daylight saving time switch, so make sure you're getting the rest you need as well, so you're not overly irritable with your child. And remember: These effects are short-lived -- within a week or so, everything should be back to normal.
Art News from Mrs. O'Leary and Ms. Walker
Here are just some highlights of the projects we will be working on in March and what we are doing until the April break:
Grade K – Look for one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish fish – painting of a fish bowl emphasizing texture, pattern snakes and coil pots.
Grade 1 – After we complete some projects with Chinese influence, we will be working on a group project – “Funny things are everywhere” emphasizing line, texture, details, cooperation and imagination.
Grade 2 – African animal books will be on display in the case, outside the art room. We will look at elements of the Taj Mahal and will be designing the ultimate dream house.
Grade 3 – To celebrate, Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday” we will be looking and designing a Mardi Gras mask from paper and found materials. We will then move on to a 3D self-portrait, inspired by Dr. Seuss.
Grade 4 – Fiesta! Students will soon be creating their favorite Mexican food from clay. Poetry and illustration come together in our Mexican cut outs. We will be also be looking at the work of Paul Klee and create some work with planet symbols and mixed media.
Grade 5 – Students have looked at the work of African American Artists, masters of collage and the use of pattern. Students are designing a story quilt square done in collage. The square must have themselves in the foreground. We will be working on how to draw three dimensionally using shadow. Soon we will look at the work of artists and interpret their work through our own.
Ask your child what they do in art each week because many times our projects are carried over to the next week or two.
Attention knitters and anyone with left over yarn: We could use your unwanted yarn for a weaving project. We are also in need of recycled materials: clear egg cartons, yogurt containers, plastic take out containers, magazines, old calendars, gift wrap, ribbon, tissues, wipes and hand soap.
ELL News from Mrs. Hine and Mrs. Murphy
It is a busy early Spring for our ELL program! Students are in the midst of various units based on their grade levels. The kindergarten classes are working on their letter books, using iPads for word making and listening to read alouds that relate to the upcoming animals unit. In first grade, we continue to work on our REACH unit “Growing and Changing”, complimenting the curriculum in the classroom. We continue to talk and read about the characteristics of living things and explore animal adaptations. Second graders are writing shared letters to convince us about character traits as part of their opinion writing unit and are also being supported with similar classroom writing pieces. Third, fourth and fifth graders are working with ELL teachers and our math specialist, Mrs. Rawding, on a new way to approach math word problems. In addition, third grade students continue to learn academic vocabulary and readings from the Water and States of Matters units which will support concepts being taught in the classroom. Fourth graders have started a new geography unit to coincide with their regions of the U.S.study in social studies. Ms. Hine’s fifth graders have been reading and analyzing memoirs and are beginning work on their own digital memoir projects.
PE News from Mr. Spiller and Ms. Murphy
Greetings from PE….
All grades recently completed their hockey and basketball skills units. Skills were emphasized and practiced. Then they put those skills to use during game play. Grades 3-5 will be starting their FITNESSgram unit in March. Four assessments will be administered. They are the PACER(cardiovascular), curl-up, push-up and flexibility. It is fun watching the students give their personal best effort each year. Younger grades will be starting their invasion games unit. Games such as cap-a-cone and capture the flag will be played. Spring is just around the corner, so get ready to enjoy your favorite outside activities very soon.
Music News from Mr. Hart and Mrs. London
Greetings from the Music Room….
The Fiske Music Performance Calendar is set. You are invited to any and all of these celebrations:
Fourth Grade Performance:
Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 11:30 in the Fiske Gym.
Third Grade Recorder Performance:
Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 11:30 in the gym.
Fifth Grade Chorus/Band/Strings Concert:
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 9am and 7pm.
Meanwhile, these are things you might see or hear if you walked by the music room at Fiske:
Kindergarten: Marching and singing to How Many Jelly Beans? And reading pre-rhythm cars.
1st Grade: Playing xylophones, playing an instrument listening game, and singing Abiyoyo.
2nd Grade: Marching and playing drums, learning about Binary Form, and ABC form.
3rd Grade: Recorder!!! Please go to the Fiske Music Website (www.fiskemusic.weebly.com). We have started Over My Head
4th Grade: Starting our concert songs and dance (The Willow Tree)
5th Grade: Moving with Style and moving to All You Need Is Love.
Library News from Mrs. Kishpaugh
Did you know the Fiske Library has 8 Chromebooks available for students to use in the library? The following are some activities students may choose while using the Chromebooks:
Flipster: Students have access to online magazines through a district-wide subscription to Flipster. Your student should know the user name and password needed to for home use, but if they don’t, please feel free to email me. Flipster may be accessed through the Fiske Library home page http://lps.lexingtonma.org/domain/910 or the Fiske Library Catalog home page http://destiny.lexingtonma.org/common/servlet/logout.do?tm=.
Databases: Lexington Public Schools maintains subscriptions to many wonderful and age appropriate online encyclopedias and article databases that can be accessed through the Fiske Library home page: http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Page/3100. No password is needed when students access the databases from school, but several require passwords for at home use. Please email me for user names and passwords, or have your child stop by the library to get the password list from me.
Destiny Discover: Fiske Library has a growing collection of eBooks and digital audiobooks available through Destiny Discover. Students may access Destiny Discover via the Fiske Catalog page: http://destiny.lexingtonma.org/cataloging/servlet/presentadvancedsearchredirectorform.do?l2m=Library%20Search&tm=TopLevelCatalog
OR the Fiske Library Home Page: http://lps.lexingtonma.org/domain/910 .
Students use the same user name and password that they use for FASST Math and Google. Destiny Discover is also available as a free app. Digital material can be downloaded onto a tablet or other device for off-line reading and listening, which makes it a great resource for travel! Have your student stop by the library for a colorful bookmark with e-Book and audio book instructions.
I encourage you and your children to check out these marvelous resources and please don’t hesitate to contact me should you need some troubleshooting assistance!
Math News from Mrs. Rawding
Here are a few resources for you and your children to puzzle with:
Game About Squares - http://gameaboutsquares.com/
One Cut Polygons - take a piece of paper, fold it 2 or more times, make one cut. open up the paper to see what shape you created. what shapes can you create? square? triangle? rectangle? hexagon? Remember playing is part of the fun and will lead to making connections, predictions, and conjectures.... have fun
Math Before Bed - What does stack 6 look like? https://mathbeforebed.com/2018/01/15/steps-down/
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
I highly recommend this book, Table Talk Math by John Stevens -- he also has Table Talk Placemat available. https://squareup.com/store/tabletalkmath
Books are to reading - as play is to math.... enjoy puzzling, thinking, wondering, and playing with your child!
Literacy News from Mrs. Azeredo, Ms. Jones and Mrs. Kelley
"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child."
On Friday, March 2 children across the United States celebrated Read Across America. Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of the beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss whose books introduced millions of children to the joys of reading and the magic of wordplay.
Developing a love for reading begins at home, and Dr. Seuss’ words and pictures will make it fun for you and your child. Try some of the tips in this website.http://www.seussville.com/Parents/tips_reading_child
We hope you’ll join us for a Literacy Parent Coffee on Thursday, March 15th. from 8:45-9:45 in the Fiske Cafeteria. The topic of this get together will be “Writing in the K-5 Classrooms”.
Health Office News from Mrs. O'Connell
We are so joyful that the warm weather and sunshine will be here soon. Unfortunately it may be followed by periods of rain that fosters large amounts of mosquitos and insects. Please apply insect repellent before school to help prevent bug bites which can be very distracting to your child and disruptive to learning.
Sun safety is another concern. Please consider applying sunscreen to exposed skin at home before school.
Also encourage hydration by sending in water bottles or containers with your child.
Fiske Elementary School
Email: tmartellone@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us
Website: http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Domain/12
Location: 55 Adams Street, Lexington, MA, United States
Phone: (781) 541-5001
Twitter: @fiskeschool